Wooden Buddha Board (Wuddha Board?)

Eli Skelly
Post 7 – 2025 : Main Project Aesthetics: Plans and Alternatives, Student Work
4 Comments

Initially, I was gearing up to center my final project around music, such as capturing the shape of music in a visual way or adding more tactile stimuli to the average listening experience. I was almost certain that I would land on a variation of a chlandi plate or ferrofluid speaker, but struggled to find a way to add my own spice to those projects. With more thought, I was led to a different user-driven movement project, one that combines my love for woodworking with my love for creative technology (and generally boosts mental health): a wooden Buddha board.

Project Plans and Inspirations

While the existing Buddha Board (2) relies on a special paint that reacts to water atop a canvas stand, my hope is to make a shallow wooden box with a translucent top panel that is attached to strands of touch-sensitive LED lights. Thus, when someone traces their finger along the top panel of the box, LED lights respond to their touch for a moment before disappearing again. As inspiration for this project, I looked to past combinations of wood and LED lights like the Wood Block LED Clock (3) and touch-sensing LED wooden tables (4):

The zen board by Buddha Boards (2)
Wood Block LED Clock (3)
LED touch-sensitive coffee table (4)

Alternative Aesthetics

With this idea in mind, my main project aesthetic is a combination of warm minimalist and modern rustic, blending the natural texture of wood with the contemporary feeling of LED lighting. Alternatively, I could pursue industrial, Outrun, or Bauhaus aesthetics, especially in how I shape the wooden box, color the LED lighting, or decorate the sides and corners. Although, I want to be sure that my chosen aesthetic embodies core Wabi Sabi philosophies in zen drawing like Datsuzoku and Kanso. Some sketches of possible aesthetics based on my plans:

As I move forward, I’m excited to explore how to bring my two interests together to create something dynamic, interactive, beautiful, and peaceful!

 

Image Sources:

  1. (Feature Image) Translucent Wood Panels by on Instructables
  2. The Zen Drawing Board by Buddha Boards by Grommet
  3. Wood Block LED Clock by benbrandt22 on Instructables
  4. LED Touch-Sensitive Coffee Table by Ubergizmo

4 Comments. Leave new

  • Max Williams
    March 9, 2025 2:45 pm

    This is very interesting project, I really like all the different sources of inspiration you provided as they really showed me what you’re plan is and how you plan on doing things differently. The light and sensors are obviously the most complicated aspect of this project, how many do you plan on using in your project to create the glowing effect or is the idea that the whole thing lights up when touched anywhere? Excited to see what you do next with this.

    • Eli Skelly
      March 11, 2025 1:33 pm

      Thanks Max! My current plan is to use 20-25 different touch sensors inside the top side of the box, each with their own LED or LED strip that light up when touched. Ideally, the LEDs would glow for a second once touched and then turn back off, like a temporary tracing line under your finger. In other words, you could draw a line horizontally across the board and the resulting colorful line would dissolve after a second or two into the clean, wooden slate. I am just gathering these materials so I have yet to get started on the electronic controls, here’s to hoping it all comes together!

  • Jessica Vo
    March 5, 2025 11:27 pm

    Hey Eli! I think your project will turn out really cool. What materials are you thinking of using for your project?

    • Eli Skelly
      March 11, 2025 1:28 pm

      Thanks Jessica! I think I will use plywood for the bulk of the project, with a thin acrylic and wood veneer combo for the top (so there is not a lot of material between the touch sensors and the user). I plan to fabricate with the laser cutter to get a nice contrasting edge on the wood, just brainstorming whether I want to put the box on an angled stand or have it lay flat. The rest of the materials will be electronic – microcontroller(s), touch sensors, LED strips, wires, an on/off button, and some sort of power supply. Hopefully it can all come together!

You must be logged in to post a comment.
Eli Skelly
Previous Post
Space Exploration: Aesthetic Plans and Alternatives
Next Post
Stained Glass Project: Plans and Alternatives

This Year’s Students